Editing & Proofreading Flashcards

A sentence reads: 'The committee has made their decision.' What is the error?

Answer: Pronoun-antecedent disagreement

'Committee' is a collective noun treated as singular, so the pronoun should be 'its,' not 'their.'

Which sentence correctly uses a semicolon?

Answer: He submitted the draft; however, it needed revision.

A semicolon can precede a conjunctive adverb like 'however' when joining two independent clauses.

When proofreading, you encounter 'effect' used where 'affect' is needed. This is an example of:

Answer: A homophone confusion

'Affect' and 'effect' are commonly confused homophones with distinct grammatical roles.

A paragraph contains the sentence: 'Running down the street, the rain soaked her.' What type of error is this?

Answer: Dangling modifier

The participial phrase 'Running down the street' illogically modifies 'the rain' rather than a person.

Which punctuation mark is used to set off nonessential (nonrestrictive) clauses?

Answer: Comma

Commas are used to set off nonrestrictive clauses that add extra information but are not essential to the sentence's meaning.

An editor notices inconsistent hyphenation of 'well known' throughout a document. What is the correct rule?

Answer: Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier before a noun

Compound modifiers like 'well-known' are hyphenated when they precede the noun they modify (e.g., 'a well-known author').

Which sentence demonstrates correct parallel structure?

Answer: She likes hiking, swimming, and running.

Parallel structure requires matching grammatical forms—here, all gerunds (-ing forms).